


Unexpected Deliveries

by adeclanfan



Series: Elizabeth!Verse [39]
Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-06
Updated: 2012-10-09
Packaged: 2017-11-15 17:53:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/530025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adeclanfan/pseuds/adeclanfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elizabeth escapes from her baby shower to get some Starbucks and ends up in trouble. Addison is a creepy stalker guy, or is he? Why is he following her in the tunnels under New York City?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Unexpected Faces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt - knife

“Could I get a grande iced breve chai tea, please?”

The girl behind the counter did what everyone else was doing today, eying Beth's very large, pregnant with twins, belly. “You're not going to go into labor in here are you?” the teenage girl asked, curious and not trying to be mean. 

Elizabeth bit back a snarky retort and forced a smile, “I promise I won't. My due date is almost a month away.”

“I don't mean to be rude, but are you having quintuplets or something? Your stomach is huge!”

Beth sighed. She'd bailed on the end of the baby shower and waddled down the block to the Starbucks get something to drink while everyone was busy packing up. “I'm a whale, I know, it's only twins. I've spent the last two hours at my second baby shower of the week being fussed over and cooing over little blue booties.” She pulled her debit card out of her pocket and swiped it in the machine. “I was going nuts... so I escaped while everyone was dealing with the mess.” 

Elizabeth glanced over her shoulder at the door, fully expecting to see one of her spouses approaching to drag her back to the Sanctuary. She was just happy the New York Sanctuary had a Starbucks down at the end of the block, or she might have burst into tears. 

“You shouldn't have to get your own chai! In fact,” the girl punched some buttons on the register, “this drink is on the house. You've earned it.”

“I don't want you to get into trouble...”

A middle aged woman, obviously the manager, came up behind the girl and smiled, “If she didn't give you that drink for free, I was going to do it myself. You deserve a little something for all those calories you're burning. Did you say you are having twins? Bless you, you're too tiny to be carrying around that much baby.” 

“So I've been told. About a dozen times today, in fact. The sooner they make their appearances the happier I will be, believe me.”

The manager looked over her shoulder at someone coming in the door. Beth turned to look, too, and froze. It wasn't Helen or Declan. The man in the doorway was Greg Addison. She gaped at him. He made eye contact with her and then turned and got into the line a few customers behind Beth. 

Beth moved down to the pick up counter, but glanced back at Addison. The man gave her the creeps. What the hell was he doing in New York? Was he following her in the hopes of getting a glimpse of Helen to prove she was still alive? 

“Are you alright, honey, you look like you just saw a ghost?” The young woman looked down the line of people at Addison and frowned, “I take it he isn't someone from your baby shower?”

“No, HE is a very bad... man.” Beth picked up her drink and tried to decide what to do. She could only waddle so fast, she'd never outrun him. He'd get to her before she could get back to the Sanctuary. Helen had her purse and her phone was in it, so Elizabeth couldn't call for help. She had her locket with the gps locator, and she knew from her time living here in the NY Sanctuary that the buildings on this block were connected by a network of underground tunnels. Morgan used them to move supplies and residents in and out of the Sanctuary without them being seen. 

If she could get to the basement, she could get back to the Sanctuary, but Addison would surely follow her. It might be possible to lose him in the tunnels, but she didn't have a map, and had only been down there twice, both times with someone acting as a guide. The Sanctuary was two buildings away, including the building she was in. In her condition, it might as well have been miles. 

Her increased adrenalin was making its way into the twins and they were both wide awake now and jockeying for more elbow and knee space in her abdomen. She winced as someone knifed her bladder. “Is there another way out of here?” Beth asked the girl. 

“We have a delivery elevator up from the basement.”

“I'm going to use the restroom and then I need to use that elevator. I really don't want to talk to that man, if I can avoid it.” Elizabeth watched Addison take his coffee and sit down at a table on the other side of the room from her. It was a relief that he didn't try to sit with her, but he wasn't really reading the newspaper in front of him, his eyes were on her. 

It made her mad. She wasn't doing anything wrong, had never done anything wrong or illegal, and yet he didn't seem be able to stop stalking her. The world thought Helen was dead, so what was he here for? Asshole.

What Elizabeth really wanted was to hop into the tube and go back to London. It was close enough to her due date even Helen was concerned about her in an airplane, so she and Declan took the newly completed Praxian bubble service. They hated when she called it that, but nobody had come up with a better name, so she could call it whatever she wanted. 

Beth spent a good ten minutes in the bathroom. The barista knocked on the door to check on her, “you okay in there? The boss says I can take you out the basement way.”

“Great,” Beth opened the door and used the girl's body to half block Addison's view of her. The girl offered Beth a knife from the kitchen, but Beth shook her head. She would find another way. “Let's go.”

Sure enough, Elizabeth was waddling in the second building, relieved to be making good time, when she heard the echos of footsteps on concrete. 

“Elizabeth...” Addison called to her, his voice echoing, and sending a shudder of fear and dread down Beth's spine. 

“Go away. I haven't done anything wrong.”

“I just want to talk to you, for a minute.”

She was moving at top speed now, but she was only going to get as far as the tunnel that led to the Praxian transport, not into the Sanctuary proper. She made the snap decision to go into the tunnel and a try to trap him. There was a grate before the actual platform, she could lock him in or out. The passageway was dark and her foot kicked something metal that rolled away with a clang. It took her a minute of feeling around to get hold of it. It was a length of steel pipe. 

Now, she was armed. 

“Elizabeth, please. I'm not going to hurt you. I want to give you something.” His voice was lower and really close now in the darkness. 

Her heart was hammering in her chest. It was hard to breathe. There was too much baby pressing up on her lungs. “There is nothing you could possibly have that I want,” Beth snarled. A sharp pain in her side almost doubled her over. 

“You're wrong about that, kiddo.” His face was just barely visible, about ten feet behind her. 

Elizabeth held the pipe behind her back, out of his line of sight. She adjusted her grip on it. “Maybe, you're right. There is something you can do for me, Mr. Addison.”

He smiled, “what's that?” His hands tucked in his pockets. 

Beth took a step toward him, smiling sweetly, but feeling nothing but the overwhelming need to survive, to get away from him, and to hurt him, again, as she had a few months ago at the burnt out remains of Helen's home. One more step and she was in range, “you can die.” 

The words were timed perfectly with the swing off the pipe, all her strength behind it. The sound of metal connecting with Addison's skull was sickening. He went down to his knees, clutching his head, and Beth hit him a second time. He slumped to the ground, not moving, not even breathing as far as Beth could tell. 

Staring down at his lifeless body, the adrenalin started to fade, leaving a cold feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach. If she killed him, Helen and Declan and Edward Morgan would have to find some way to cover up her shocking crime. It was a crime to kill someone, even someone as horrible as Greg Addison. 

Behind her in the tunnel, a swooshing sound indicated a little transport ball had just pulled up, having sensed someone approaching the 'station'. 

It gave Beth an idea. On the way over, Declan made it a point to show her where they set up emergency stops along the route under the Atlantic Ocean. There were at least four, each an hour apart on the four and a half hour journey to London. She could roll Addison's corpse off at one of the stops and it would be quite a while before a maintenance crew would find him. They might assume he stumbled across the tunnels and died in an accident. 

Decision made, Elizabeth took Addison's arms and dragged him inside with her. It took a lot of effort, he was heavier than he looked, and her arm muscles were burning from fatigue before she was done. 

The door hissed shut and sealed. Then, the car jerked into motion. 

Four and a half hours in a little bubble with a dead body. The idea made Beth queasy, but not as much as when she thought of what he could have done had she not hit him. 

Self defense, she told herself sternly. Or was it? 

Her eyes closed and Elizabeth drifted off holding her arms protectively over her belly.


	2. Surprises For All

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt - Nikola Tesla

The squeezing sensation of a contraction in her belly woke Elizabeth from her dozing. She ran a hand gently over the bulge trying to soothe the cramped muscles. “It's okay, we'll be home soon,” she told the twins. “Random contractions are perfectly normal at this stage in the game.”

“It's not a random contraction, kiddo.”

Elizabeth jumped in her seat at the voice and found herself staring into the very much alive, and none too happy, eyes of Greg Addison. He was holding a folded piece of cloth torn from his shirt to the cut on his temple, close enough to reach an arm out and touch her if he wanted to. 

The shock and dawning horror on her face spoke volumes to a man adept at reading people and ferreting out lies. “You kidnapped me, but didn't tie me up. You dragged me in here with you and are completely shocked that I'm awake. Ms Watson, I'm beginning to wonder if you thought you killed me. But, if you thought you killed me, why drag me into this strange form of transportation. Why not leave my body for someone from the Sanctuary in New York to feed to something that eats meat? Why did you bring me with you?”

“It's Macrae, not Watson. Declan and I were married in London two months ago.” She dodged the question, but not because she was trying to, really. Her brain was just too numb from the shock of his being alive at the moment to keep up. 

Addison nodded, “Congratulations. I'm sure it's what your adopted father and Magnus would have wanted.”

Elizabeth scowled at him. “It's what I wanted.”

“Of course.” His smile was full of teeth, like a shark. 

The screen on the wall near the door made a loud gong and the forward motion of the transport started to slow.

“What's going on?” Addison asked, slightly concerned.

They stopped and Beth heaved herself to her feet. “This is the halfway point. I programmed the car to stop here. I was going to leave your body here for someone to find in like... a year or two.” She stepped out onto the platform and grumbled, “now I just need to use the damn bathroom and get something to drink.”

Addison followed her out into the little cement room, with a brief glance at the control panel on his way out the door and down the steps. “My God. Does this display mean we're halfway to London under the Atlantic Ocean?” 

Beth ignored him and opened the door she knew led to a supply room and the all important bathrooms. 

He was right behind her. “Is this Praxian technology? I thought Praxis was destroyed.”

Elizabeth sighed, loudly enough for him to hear her. “Yes and yes, and I don't know how they did this exactly. I'm just one of the freaks in the zoo. The technical explanations go right over my little blonde head. Unless it involves important things like places I can dispose of a dead body, find a cold bottle of water or where the nearest restroom is.” The sounds of water were soon followed by Elizabeth emerging from the bathroom. “Your turn.”

“I'm fine.”

Beth smirked. “I can't leave you down here while you're taking a potty break. The pod thing won't continue without both living people in it. It's a safety feature, so people don't get forgotten accidentally.” She smiled at him. “Or not so accidentally.” She shouldered past him, or maybe bellied past him was more accurate. “I need some water.” Another door opened into a storage room. “Food, water, medical supplies, emergency gear. It's got everything you need to make the place homey. Even a few cots.”

Elizabeth shoved a large bottle of cold water into Addison's hands and went back the way she came. They re-boarded the sphere and the door sealed. “See. Sealed. And off we go to see the wizard.”

“Can't you take me back? Does it only go one direction?”

Beth looked at the screen, standing too close to Addison for her own comfort. There was a red dot on the line behind them now, about an hour behind. “It does now.” The car started moving again, gaining speed for the rest of the journey. 

“Is this another pod following us?”

“Yes,” Beth smiled, “took them long enough to figure out where I went.” They would only be an hour behind when Beth and Addison reached the 'station' of their private London express bubble. 

“We could wait for them to catch up...” 

All the muscles in Elizabeth's abdomen chose that moment to seize up and double her over in agony. She screamed from the horrendous pain of the contraction and her knees buckled until she slid down onto the bench seat. Then, she noticed the feeling of wetness on her inner thighs. 

Addison had a hand on her, trying to steady her, but soon he noticed the water, too, and stepped back in disgust. “Elizabeth, I think your water just broke.” 

His grip didn't ease even when Beth tried to push his hand off her arm, impatiently. She was still panting after the contraction went away. “I need to get to London; no turning back or waiting. I'm sure I've got a dozen hours before I have to worry about pushing. Two hours in here is nothing, just a starter.”

Addison looked at her doubtfully. “I've never delivered a baby.”

“Neither have I. From what I've read, mostly they come out when they want to come out on their own. Humans have been making babies for thousands of years.”

Addison eyed her stomach. “I'm thinking it wants out now. I noticed while you were sleeping that your stomach was contracting about every 20 minutes.”

Beth huffed, “they can't come out now. It's cold in here and not exactly sterile and neither one of us has so much as a pocket knife to cut the umbilical cords.” 

“They?” Addison's color drained away. 

“The twins, Mr Addison. I'm carrying twins, one boy, one girl.” Elizabeth closed her eyes and tried to calm down. “One baby wouldn't make me this fat and miserable.” She was too close to becoming hysterical and that wouldn't help. “Can you lift up the seat on your bench and see what we have in the storage bin?”

The Head of SCIU nodded and did as she asked. The search netted them a first aid kit, complete with nitrile gloves, two small foil blankets and a pair of scissors. They had two large bottles of water and whatever was in the bench Elizabeth was sitting on. It was a promising start. 

“Could you help me up? I'd like to know what I'm sitting on. You know... jumper cables, CB radio, paperback romance novel, maybe an ipad if we are lucky.”

Addison laughed, “you are a very strange young woman.” He took Beth's hand and pulled her gently to her feet, wrapping an arm around her to steady her when she wavered unsteadily. 

“I hear that from a lot of people. Sarcasm is a good coping defense. Helen taught me that.”

They were the same height, and it was strange being tucked under his arm. It put them kissing close, and she could see the patch of dried blood on his head. It made her queasy to think she'd caused it. 

“Whatever you are thinking about right now, Elizabeth, stop it. You're turning green and we already have a mess on the little circle of floor space we have. No vomiting.”

“No promises. Can you look in the bin?” 

This storage compartment had a very American looking toolbox, a roll of absorbent blue cleaning towels and two small travel pillows and two blankets. Addison helped Beth down onto his bench and set to work cleaning up the mess from Beth's water breaking. He didn't moan or complain, just rolled up his sleeves and got to work. He tossed the used towels into the seat bin as he went. When the floor met with his approval, Addison spread a thermal blanket onto the ground and a soft blanket and pillow on top of that. 

“Give my your panties.”

Elizabeth mouth dropped open. 

Addison rolled his eyes, “they are soaked with baby gunk. I'll throw them in with the dirty towels, someone will have to clean and sanitize this place later. Wet panties won't be very comfortable to sleep in.”

Beth considered that for a minute. And damned if he wasn't right. She wiggled herself out of the giant granny panties and was glad that the long skirt preserved her modesty. He held out a hand and Beth slapped it away, glaring at him, “pervert,” she huffed. “I can throw away my own panties. Thank you very much.” 

Addison laughed. “Suit yourself, kiddo.” He held the blanket up for her to climb under. “Time for you to lie down for a bit.” 

“I won't be able to get back up...”

Addison shrugged, “we can worry about that in two hours.” 

Just after Beth got comfortable, another contraction started. She bit her lip and tried not to hold her breath with the force of it. Helen would tell her to breathe. They had even started childbirth classes together, with two pregnant women from Hollow Earth that were living in Helen's Sanctuary. Declan was more than happy to let Helen be the one at the business end of the bed when the time came. He stopped coming after the childbirth movie. Wuss. 

The way things were going now the only bed there was was a blanket on a floor and Helen and Declan were an hour away and Beth was worried that if the contractions continued to get closer and closer, she'd be having the babies right where she was. 

“There anything I can do for you, Elizabeth.”

She blinked at him, surprised. He almost sounded nice. “I don't think so. Laying down is good, though. Thank you.”

“Do you have names picked out?”

Beth thought about it for a while, rubbing her belly. “We have a boy name, James David. After our dads. We never really found a girl name we liked, I think we were planning to pick one after she was born. You know, take one look at her and maybe we'd just know who she is.”

Addison looked doubtful. “You aren't going to name her after Helen?”

“Nope.”

“Too painful?”

Elizabeth grinned, “too cheesy.”

“Nikki? Nichelle? Nicolette? Tessa?” 

Beth winced, “you are even worse than Declan with the baby names. I didn't think that was possible. God, I'm not going to add to Nikola Tesla's ego by naming one of my first born after him. Especially not a girl. It would be like painting a target on her. He's a menace to women.” 

“And you'd know about Tesla from personal experience?”

“Nope. Not having a conversation on my complicated sex life with you.”

They drifted into a comfortable silence and Beth dozed between contractions. She was in denial, but they were coming faster all the time. 

There was a strange scratching sound from the screen and the map was replaced by Declan's face. “Elizabeth?”

Beth scrambled to sit up, Addison had to help her and that brought him into the line of sight of the camera. “Addison? What the bloody hell are you doing with Elizabeth!”

Elizabeth put a hand on Addison's and pleaded with her eyes. “Long story short, I ran into Mr Addison in the coffee shop and he followed me into the basement tunnels. I hit him with a piece of pipe and put him in the car to London with me.”

“Your wife thought she killed me, and was going to find a nice secluded place to dump my corpse, but she didn't know enough about killing people to check for a pulse. I'm only concussed and have one hell of a headache.”

Declan gaped at them. “Are you alright, 'Lizabeth? Has he hurt you?” 

“No, Dec,” Elizabeth shook her head emphatically, “but my water broke at the halfway station. I'm having bad contractions, now. We found some blankets and Addison made me a spot to lay down.” 

If she didn't think Declan could look any more shocked and horrified, she was wrong. “They've coming, now?” Declan's voice broke. The crazy, scared expression mirrored what Elizabeth herself was feeling at the moment. 

“Can you make these Praxian things go faster? Please?!” Beth's plea was interrupted by a moan of pain. She curled in on herself panting and hissing each breath out between her teeth. “How long was that?” 

“Since the last one? Eight minutes ten seconds.”

Declan was still watching them, and sighed, “dear God.”

Elizabeth lifted her head and glared at him. “Faster, darling hubby,” she growled, “make the fucking thing go faster! I want a bed and more pillows and nurses and IVs and DEMEROL!” 

Declan's eyebrows raised in surprise as she mention Demerol and he must have had an idea. He turned to look at someone off camera. There was a brief muttered exchange, and then he looked at Addison, “in the toolbox, there should be a trauma kit. It's a silver foil pouch. There is a syringe of Demerol in it.”

“Can she have that? Won't it hurt the babies?”

Beth's arm swung out and hit Addison in the gut, making him grunt in pain, “gimme the damn drugs, Greg...” she hissed. 

“I'm more worried about what she's going to do to you if you don't,” Declan smiled. “Elizabeth, listen to me. Breathing exercises. In two three, out two three, remember?” 

“Shut up.”

Declan didn't take offense at being told to shut up, he laughed, “Okay, okay, go ahead and give her the shot,” there was another off camera discussion. “The best place would be the left hip.” 

Elizabeth didn't faint or complain or throw up when she felt the prick of the needle, she sighed. And then, she smiled and kissed Addison's hand. 

“That may or may not slow the pace of the labor, but it will take the edge off the contractions. Do not push, under any circumstances, do you hear me, 'Lizabeth? We are working on increasing the speed of the pods. Try to rest between contractions, luv. Don't waste energy on talking.” 

Elizabeth's foggy brain found the underlying meaning. Declan was trying to tell her to keep Helen's survival a secret for as long as possible. She knew that, but the reminder was welcome. As far as Addison knew, Helen was still dead. They needed her to stay that way. 

“Demerol is my new best friend.”

“Addison, push the red button if anything changes, or you need me for anything else. You're about forty minutes out from London, and we're forty behind you. I'm going to have the med teams meet us at the platform.”

“Right. Good. I don't know how to deliver a baby.”

“You play baseball as a kid?”

“Of course.”

“Make a glove out of one of the pillows and catch. Then, take the clamps from the trauma kit and clamp the cord in two places, take the knife and cut between the clamps. Easy.” Declan's smile slipped, “if you drop one of my kids, I have an Abnormal or two who won't get indigestion from eating you.”

Elizabeth giggled.


	3. Auspicious Beginnings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt - comfort: joyous reunion

prompt – comfort: joyous reunion

“That's an unusual wedding ring.” Addison lifted her hand and examined the ring, “it almost looks like two wedding bands around the solitaire engagement ring.”

Elizabeth was between contractions enough for a few moments to make conversation. “Don't be ridiculous,” she winced at how much like Helen in a snit she sounded when she replied, so Beth softened it by adding, “it's not legal to marry two people. If there were still two people I wanted to marry...”

“No, I don't suppose it is, not in the United States, or the UK.” Addison let her hand go and sat back on the bench. “And yet in other countries, other cultures, an arrangement like that between consenting adults wouldn't be such a big deal.” 

Beth gave a shrug of one shoulder. “The whole wedding thing gives me a headache, eloping was the right thing to do.” 

At least, in the surface world, it looked like she eloped with Declan. She couldn't help a slight smirk at the memory of the unusual double marriage ceremony on the lawn in front of the Underground Sanctuary two months ago, and the massive hangovers Helen and Declan suffered as a result of Kate spiking the punch fountain. 

Elizabeth got the rare chance to get on their cases for once. Mostly, she was jealous the twins kept her from getting completely plastered herself. Being pregnant was a drag in so many ways.

The next contraction came, but something was... different. Wrong. Elizabeth lifted her head and looked at Addison in panic. “Help!” 

“What's wrong, kiddo?”

“You remember when Declan said under no circumstances to push?”

Addison's eyes narrowed at her. “Yeah? What about it?”

“I really really need to push.”

Addison jumped out of his seat in alarm. “No. Do not push. You can wait eight minutes.”

Elizabeth shook her head emphatically. “I can't... I've gotta... push.”

The man scrambled for the spare pillow and the trauma kit, especially the knife, and the gloves and sheet of plastic. “Are you sure about this?” He said, snapping the gloves into his hands. 

“Oh, yeah. I'm sure. Can you help me sit up? I think it would be easier to be sitting up.” 

Addison lifted Beth to a sitting position, with her back braced against the padded bench seat. He lifted her skirt and gasped when she opened her thighs, “Oh my God. I can see the top of the baby's head!” 

“Told you, didn't I? I'm going to push now. Don't you dare drop her.”

The contraction came and went and quickly came again. Elizabeth pushed, and screamed at the pain the pushing caused, and pushed more until she was howling. Sweat was stinging her eyes, and her mouth was dry. 

There was a minute or two of silence from Addison and then she lifted her head and looked down to see him wrestling with a wriggling body, arms and legs flailing. 

He gave startled a laugh and looked up at her, “I didn't drop him, but he isn't making this easy. He's slippery.”

Beth looked the baby over from the wispy black hair on his head, to his long skinny legs. It all seemed surreal that something his size was living inside her belly, and she was only halfway done with the process. “Don't we have to clean his nose and mouth?” 

“Damned if I know.” He looked at her baby critically, then at the screen, then pulled off his leather jacket and torn shirt and used the shirt to wipe the baby's nose. “We're almost there. ETA three minutes. How are you doing?”

“Not as bad on the contractions right now.” Elizabeth's hand was shaking. “We need to push the red button.”

“Yeah. I can't tell if he is even breathing, but the wriggling is probably a good sign for the moment.” 

Addison finished clamping and cutting the umbilical cord with the knife and wrapped the baby in his jacket and stood and pushed the button. 

Declan's face appeared. “What's happened?!”

“I had to push. The baby's head was coming out,” Beth called to him. 

There was a moment of realization on her husband's face, “oh no...” His eyes went to the tiny bundle in Addison's arms. “God. Damn it.”

“How do we clean his nose and mouth?” Addison asked. “Don't they usually have to use a suction bulb for that? He hasn't cried or anything yet...”

“Gravity will have to suffice. Turn him over carefully in the crook of your arm and lightly pat his back.” That wasn't Declan, the voice was Helen's. Declan was too busy sliding down to sit on the bench, face white as a sheet. 

Addison turned the baby over and patted his back gently. Almost immediately, the little fellow gagged and started to wail pitifully. “I think that did it.”

“Wrap him first in the blanket, and then in your jacket, support his head...” Helen's tone was all business, “he's not likely to get hypothermia. They have an incubator standing by in the station, and that should get him all warmed up.” 

Addison quickly re-wrapped him the way Helen told him, and then smiled at the tiny scrunched face, “hello there, little James. Welcome to the loud, too cold world. And hello to you, too, Magnus. Nice to see you're alive and well. I never doubted it for a minute, despite Elizabeth's Oscar worthy performance for the news media.”

Helen huffed at him and her attention went to Elizabeth, “You did excellent, Elizabeth, he looks pink and perfect. A bit bigger than I expected, too. Rest while you can. You'll be out of there before the second baby comes. In a bed, just like you wanted.” 

“Contraction...” Beth howled. 

“The placenta is coming out next. It won't hurt; I promise. It will take time for the twin to get lined up with the exit.”

A thought occurred to Beth, something from the last ultrasound. “Do you think she's still breach?”

Helen gave her what she supposed was meant to be a reassuring smile. “No way of knowing until she starts to come. Even if she is, it will be alright, we can turn her.”

The pod made the ding and slowed to a halt, much to everyone's relief. There were a group of people waiting just outside the door. A woman in scrubs pulled James from Addison's arms first thing and a group of people took the edges of Elizabeth's blanket and lifted her onto the waiting bed. 

The next few minutes were a blur of scrubs clad medical personnel and beeping monitors and Beth reached out and tugged on a sleeve, “Breach?” she asked weakly. 

The woman smiled at her, and Beth recognized her obstetrician and was flooded with relief. The woman patted her arm, “it's alright, love, don't worry. I was going to check her right now.” Whatever it was that the doctor did... it hurt.

Elizabeth howled and Addison was soon at her side, holding the hand that didn't have the IV in it. His face was tight, pale. “What the hell?” he demanded.

“Her knee was trying to come first, I had to push it back in. Sorry, Elizabeth, I know that hurt. I'm going to give you a bit more Demerol. We have to turn her. Did someone mention the possibility?” The doctor eyed Addison with suspicion, not willing to mention Helen Magnus in front of him. 

Beth scowled, “he knows. She had to explain how to clear the baby's airway to us.”

“Magnus will be here in about seven minutes. With luck, we will have her mostly repositioned before they get here. That way you can hate me for hurting you and not take it out on your wife.”

Elizabeth grumbled, “I'm going to kick Declan in the balls.”

“Yeah,” the doctor chuckled, “I hear that a lot from women in labor.” She patted Beth's arm. “The best way to do this is to roll onto your side. It may just annoy her enough that she'll finish turning most of the way herself. 

Beth needed two people to help her turn over, her entire body felt like she'd been run over by a truck. And, she was tired. So, very tired. Sure enough, though, rolling onto her side caused the little one remaining inside her to start to shift around in her belly, not crowded by her brother for the first time. 

The nurses and the doctor helped her baby move from transverse to head down, but they were all panting a sweating by the time she was lined up. At one point, Beth was sure she fainted, if only for a few seconds when the semi-hard baby skull touched something painful inside her. “Is this a bad time to mention I think my mother probably died giving birth to us from what we could find out about her?”

The doctor blinked at her, shocked by the confession. “Oh no, you aren't dying on my watch! Magnus will kick my ass. You and that baby are going to be fine. This isn't the time to be embracing your fatalistic Russian roots, you silly cow. Stiff upper lip, like James raised you.” 

There was a loud swoosh of air in the platform and the second transport pod's door hissed open, letting Helen and Declan and Kate out onto the steps. 

Beth burst into tears as Helen and Declan each got an arm around her and held her. It was one hell of a reunion. She sobbed into Declan's shirt, while his hands stroked her back and hair. 

“Helen...”Elizabeth's lower lip quivered, “I'm scared. I don't think I can push anymore. I'm so tired.”

“I know you are, baby,” Helen soothed. “I'm here, now. We're both here. It's almost over.” Helen conversed in whispers with the doctor, but things seemed to meet with her approval, because she smiled brilliantly at Beth. “The baby is head down and ready for you to push. Give me two big pushes, one for the head and one for the shoulders, and we'll have her out.” 

Helen kissed her sweaty brow. “On three, one... two... three. Push.”

Elizabeth tried when the next contraction hit, she pushed and pushed. She couldn't tell anymore if it was working. Collapsing back against the pillows with a sob of frustration, Beth panted and cried, “I can't.”

Declan was right there at her shoulder holding her hand, “you did, 'Lizabeth. You did it. Her head is out.”

“He's quite right. Now, you don't even have to give me a big push with the next contraction. She's a little bitty thing, just like her mummy.” 

The next contraction came and Beth gritted her teeth and pushed. Her efforts were rewarded with a high pitched screech. Definitely a girl. 

The mad little cry was the last straw for Elizabeth and she broke down and started to sob. 

“What's the matter, luv?” Declan asked, holding her and rocking her in his arms, trying to comfort her. “It's done. They're out of you. Evicted.” He was watching Magnus over her head as she suctioned out the nose and mouth and made short work of the umbilical cord. “You nearly didn't leave anything for Magnus to do and she's been looking forward to this moment for years.”

That made Elizabeth laugh, and then cry even harder. “I'm just... so... happy.” The sobs got worse, not better. 

“So this bout of hysterical weeping is joy, then?” Declan was amused. 

Beth punched his arm, lightly, “yes, joy, damn it.” It was barely a tap, she just didn't have much strength left. “Joy, joy, joy.”

Helen put the wrapped and capped bundle into Elizabeth's arms. She stared down at the wrinkly little face and touched the pouty little lip with the tip of her finger. “Joy.” One minute old, and Elizabeth was already completely in love.

Declan looked at their tiny daughter, and then at Magnus, who nodded. “Joy she is then.”

Elizabeth blinked at them, just then realizing what he was saying, “you mean name her Joy?”

“Maybe a name like that'll make her teenage years a bit less hellish.”

Magnus chuckled. “Don't count on it. Names don't have quite that much power. The teenage years are always hellish, and not just with girls. Try raising a teenage werewolf, if you don't believe me.”

Kate smirked from her place well out of the way of all the action, “I'm gonna tell Henry you said that.”

The obstetrician delivered a second, slightly larger bundle into Declan's arms and he started at the raven haired infant with wonder. 

Helen promptly pulled him away from his father and said, “Oh, no, you don't get him yet. You look like you're going to faint dead away. Sit.” A nurse shoved a wheelchair into the back of Declan's knees and he collapsed into it gratefully. 

Only then was Magnus willing to give him the baby back, but she stayed close at his shoulder. “We should really take this little birthday party somewhere nicer, don't you think?” Helen was asking James, of course. His only response was a yawn. “I quite agree. The two of you aren't off to a very auspicious beginning.” She smiled at Addison. “Just look who you chose to deliver you. I mean really. You'd rather have some stranger from SCUI? He's never delivered a baby in his life. Next thing you know, he's going to think all this means he's your godfather or some ridiculous thing.”

Addison cleared his throat. “Technically, I parted ways with SCUI last month, I retired. And I've successfully delivered a baby, now. So, I'm moving up in the world.”

“Right,” Magnus pronounced. “Excellent work, everyone, and under less than ideal conditions. Let's get everyone into the infirmary, shall we?”


	4. Epilogue

Two days later, Elizabeth was resting in her infirmary room. She could have gone back to her bedroom, but she liked being close to the babies when it was time for one of them to nurse, which was all the damn time. 

It was easier for visitors, too. The babies were breathing pretty well on their own, but would have to stay in the incubators for at least a week, they were two weeks earlier than the doctors were comfortable with, and a little thin, especially Joy. Two weeks would have fattened them up and given them the ability to regulate their own body temperatures.

A knock on the door, and it opened to reveal Greg Addison. He was followed closely by Helen. 

“You're alive! I was so worried,” Elizabeth said, earnestly.

Helen smirked. 

Addison shrugged, “With all the commotion, I haven't had the chance to give you my gift.”

“You still want to give me a gift after everything I did to you?” Beth was astonished. “I cracked your skull with a pipe.”

“You tried. But you were hormonal and scared and given our history, I can't really blame you for swinging the pipe first and asking questions later. I forgive you. Your twin sister healed me while you were sleeping as thanks for delivering baby James, by the way. That healing thing is a nice trick. I hope the kids get some of that action.”

Beth's eyes widened. “She did?”

“Yes. Victoria was... fierce, too. I think she's even more protective than both your spouses.” Addison pulled a battered and blood stained envelope out of the pocket of his suit jacket. He placed it on the tray table in front of her. His brown leather coat was no where to be seen, Beth wondered if maybe Helen knew how to get baby goo off of leather. 

Beth opened up the dirty envelope and pulled out a small stack of papers and what looked like two greeting card size envelopes. 

She unfolded the papers and blinked at them in shock and confusion. These said that as of two months ago she was a naturalized citizen of the United States. 

“US Citizenship papers. And open the yellow envelope first.”

Elizabeth did. It was a passport, a freaking US of A passport with her picture and her name on it. She blinked back tears, “but you said...” He'd said he was going to have her deported from the US and banned for life. 

“I was being an asshole, Elizabeth. And I'm truly sorry. You didn't deserve that. My quarrel was with Magnus, not you.”

“I don't know what to say, Mr. Addison...”

The man moved so he could perch a hip on the edge of her bed, and he took her hand. “Call me Greg. Please. After Magnus took you home with her, I expected you to go back to New York, back to your job at the restaurant and living in the Sanctuary like nothing happened. I went to the restaurant to see you and your boss told me that you'd never come back. You quit your job, gave up your space in the Sanctuary...” 

Elizabeth nodded, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. “I couldn't. I just couldn't.”

“And that was entirely my fault. Those men were my responsibility, and they did something vile on my watch. I wasn't any better when we met in New Mexico.” He picked up her hand and kissed the back of it. “You weren't just collateral damage, you are a person. You came here looking for the same thing as everyone else, the American Dream. We destroyed yours and sent you back to London afraid of your own shadow. Who's the bigger monster? The cute kid who studied and worked hard, looking to start a business of her own? Or the heartless bastard who used her to hurt someone she loves. Those papers only repaid part of the debt. Maybe helping safely deliver your son was karma's way of finishing the repayment.”

Elizabeth nodded. 

“You know, Elizabeth, the last place anyone saw you after the baby shower was in that Starbucks. You could claim the twins were born in the basement of the Sanctuary building and they would automatically be US citizens, too.” 

Helen left her post by the door, and walked over to the bed. She sighed, “he's right and you should at least discuss the possibility with Declan.”

“That's not the truth, though.” Beth didn't like lying when she didn't have to, and this wasn't something trivial, this was important. 

Addison smiled, looking at Magnus. “She really is adorably innocent.”

“And we like her that way,” Helen stated firmly.

“If you decide to go that route, I know some people who can speed through the social security paperwork for you.” He handed her the other envelope. 

It was a baby shower card, with a check for $50,000 dollars. Beth dropped it like it was a hot potato. 

Addison laughed, “You are going to take it. I insist. Kids are expensive these days: food, diapers, college tuition. You were well within your rights to sue the shit out of SCUI after the rape. You would have won millions. Consider that the first installment of your settlement payments.”

“I don't know what to say...”

“Don't say anything, just... have a happy ending, kiddo. Make more babies; open a restaurant.” He stood and walked to the door. 

“Hey, Greg?”

“Yeah, kiddo?” He looked at her over his shoulder. 

“Sorry about the leather coat. I really liked it.”

Addison laughed. “Don't worry about it. I know a guy in Chicago. He can get anything out of leather.”

“Oh, good. By the way, thanks for not dropping James.”

“You're welcome, but I'm getting out of here before someone thinks that makes me responsible for changing his dirty diapers.”

Elizabeth giggled, “fine. Run away, you coward.”

“Damn straight.”

 

The End


End file.
